New Heroes Arise

The land needs heroes...

Session Fifteen

Having defeated the hobgoblins, the party decided to venture southward, looking for an alternate route into the room behind the portcullis. They jouneyed to a large, unlit room, with double doors to the west and south. The southern doors, however, were made of stone, not the typical brass-bound wood seen throughout the rest of the Keep.

The party examined the doors and, finding nothing dangerous, opened the southern ones and peered through them. Inside the dark chamber beyond lay a gigantic statue of a man in plate armor hefting a large sword, beyond which lay another passage of some kind flanked by other statues, difficult to see past the titan in the center of the room. Shinto led the party in…and then the statue moved.

The titan swung its blade at the rogue, striking a glancing blow that knocked him to the ground. Simultaneously, the doors to the room slammed shut, and an audible locking sound could be heard – both by those in the room, and by Morthos, who had the misfortune of being the last in line and not yet through the doors when Shinto woke the titan statue. Thus, all he could do was bang on the doors and listen to the sounds of battle through the doors.

Quickly determining the titan’s range, the party explored the rest of the room. To the east lay two more statues, these of crouching dragons, and to the south the statues were of some kind of angelic cherubs, holding vases over their heads. Mellum went boldly for the southern passage, climbing up onto the base of the titan statue and moving beneath it. Content Not Found: biri moved around to the east, skirting what she thought was the edge of the dragons’ range. Alas, she mis-judged the distance, and was knocked back by a blast of force.

Mellum reached the cherub statues and moved into the passageway. Instantly, a shimmering wall of arcane magic sprung up around him, the four cherubs forming the corners of a box…and then they tipped their vases down, releasing a deluge of water that rapidly filled the area to just over the dwarf’s head.

Paelias assaulted one of the cherubs with magical attacks, while the paladin ran forward and attacked with Aecris...and was severely injured by bolts of force from the dragon statues, more focused this time and aimed directly at her. Fortunately, even behind a magical screen, the cleric was able to extend the healing power of Moradin to revive his wounded comrade, and her own innate stamina enabled her to shrug off most of her injuries, at least for the time being.

The water soon formed a strong current that began dragging Mellum around in a circle, but between a well-placed magic missile from Paelias and a skillful – or was it flailing? – axe-blow from the cleric, the statue crumbled and fell to the floor in pieces.

Unfortunately, destroying one statue was apparently not enough to disrupt the trap, for the energy barrier remained. With a well-coordinated effort, though, Paelias, the paladin, and Mellum were able to eliminate one other cherub statue, releasing the water in a torrent that pushed them – except Paelias, who had remained a safe distance away, the powers of magic not requiring proximity to be effective – to the base of the titan.

The cleric freed, the other statues proved much less hassle now that their workings were somewhat clearer. The party wanted to eliminate the threat from the statues, both for any return visits to the room, and in case the mechanism to open the locked doors was on the eastern wall. The titan’s reach was easily avoided, and leaping onto the dragons rendered one safe from their attacks. The wizard’s knowledge of arcane matters proved sufficient to disable one, and Shinto used his thieving skills to disarm the other. Unable to find any kind of mechanism or access panel on the titan’s base, the party left it alone, it being simple enough to stay out of its way.

Unfortunately, no switches to unlock the door were apparent on the walls of the room, but Shinto was able to use his skills to open it, letting Morthos into the room.